Artist Feature: Jay Davies
Jay Davies (b. 1994) is a queer, agender, First Nations (Māori) photographic artist living and working on stolen lands of The Kulin Nation (in Melbourne, Australia). Their work explores queer intimacy for a queer audience. Through the use of analogue and instant photographic processes, a body of work is collected that highlights and celebrates the importance of queer life and community. One of the main priorities of the artist is the safe spaces and intimate relationships that are formed to produce their work.
Photography by Jay Davies
Q: Can you share something you've learned from creating this body of work that would resonate with our community?
JD: My entire practice is driven by an empathetic curiosity and a desire to learn about people and human behaviour. I am constantly being surprised by how differently and uniquely we all experience the world - how our language, our life experiences, our culture and our environment shape the ways in which we understand ourselves and our relationships.
Q: Tell us about your work process! Do you plan your images ahead or are you more improvisational?
JD: Honestly it’s a bit of a mix. I have a camera on me at all times, documenting my life as it’s happening, but I also consume a lot of art and media so I’m constantly thinking about creating new things. I often reshoot scenes from my dreams or images I’ve taken in the past - I also have an ever-growing list of ‘To Shoot’ ideas saved in the notes app on my phone. For my planned shoots I make individual mood boards ahead of time so that I can talk through the process and communicate what I’m currently working on and what ideas I’m interested in creating. I find this gives the people I’m collaborating with a heads up and a chance to talk about what they are comfortable with and any ideas they’ve got too. I like to make things feel comfy and casual - to make sure it feels like an open collaboration.
Photography by Jay Davies
Q: What types of expectations for artists are most challenging to you today?
JD: Hmm tough question. I think the internet and how we use it as a society often creates some warped perceptions of artists. I think sometimes people misinterpret having a following on social media as a form of celebrity or idol. I try my best to use my platform to educate people about my own experiences as a queer, agender and First Nations person. I try to engage with as many followers as possible and spend a lot of hours responding to people's questions - but I can’t be expected to spend all my hours and all my energy educating the world whilst making art and working my two other jobs. It’s tough, I feel like often I’m not doing enough - because you can never really do enough. My work is my life and my work is for everyone who wants to appreciate it but I am not ever trying to say my experiences or the images I create encapsulate an entire community of queer people, of people living outside of the gender binary, or of First Nations people. I am not trying to wholly represent any of these marginalised groups, I’m just here celebrating my life and the incredible queer people in it.
Q: Do you have any upcoming events, exhibitions, or news you'd like to share?
JD: My next project is an outdoor gallery that was co-created with a few women at The People’s Concern in Santa Monica, an organization that supports individuals in finding housing while providing mental/medical health care among many other things. The gallery will be a photo exposition of their photographs, their writing and portraits that I took of them and is based around a 5-week session we had where they spoke about their experiences, life views and who they are as individuals while using images to explore that. It’ll be hanging up near the Santa Monica Airport in September!
“I also struggle a lot with the expectation of making work that is palatable, work that politely entertains society without causing offense. My voice and my art are constantly being censored, being diluted so that it is digestible for Instagram’s (and other platforms’) oppressive policies, so that my queerness is soft enough for society to swallow.”
Photography by Jay Davies
Q: What is your advice to young and aspiring photographers?
JD: Shoot, make, create! It can take a while to find what exactly you’re interested in making and often making work you aren’t interested in helps steer you in the right direction. I’ve been taking photographs for as long as I can remember but my direction, my interests and my perspective have changed so many times over the course of my ‘career’. I think a lot of artists suffer creative blocks because we get stuck thinking a piece isn’t finished or an idea isn’t fully fleshed out - but it can never be finished if you don’t start it.
Q: What does being a feminist mean to you?
JD: Feminism is about recognising intersectional oppression and marginalisation, and working to combat it. It’s about support, it’s about equality, it’s about diversity, it’s about unity. Feminism, to me, is about listening and learning from people with lived experiences as minorities, marginalised communities, people who have been systematically oppressed - and being a feminist is working towards breaking down those systems of oppression that we are all still living under. Being a feminist is about fighting for people, for rights, it’s about fighting against the patriarchy, against capitalism, against the destruction of our animals and our Earth. Being a feminist is about helping and healing. If your feminism isn’t intersectional then it isn’t really feminism.
Photography by Jay Davies
Q: Do you have any upcoming events, exhibitions, or news you'd like to share?
JD: I’m working on a few exhibitions at the moment. I’ve just started putting stuff together for a virtual exhibition with IC Contemporary, and I’m really excited about it. I have always relied on the accessibility of the internet to share my work internationally and with those who are affected by inaccessible venues - I’m very keen to find more virtual galleries to work with. Two of my friends and I are working on our first show together as a (SMUT) collective too. It’ll open here in Naarm (Melbourne) in November. There’ll be lots more info about this in the coming weeks! I also just released my latest publication, Instant Gratification, which is a collection of polaroid photographs taken over the past 7-8 years of my life. A project I am very excited to share with the world.
Follow @j.aydavies and view more at .jay-davies.com
